susiemargaret

the hearing loss, the migraines, and the sleep apnea i know how to deal with, even tho i resent having to deal with them. i have no clue in the world how to treat my IBS. the clinical depression scares me a lot. nonetheless, i try not to let these conditions control how i organize my life, and on most days i am in pretty good spirits!

i usually post or respond in the various depression communities and the neurology community.

the manufacturer warns that patients should not take more than 400 mg/day because of the risk of liver damage, but you are nowhere close to that right now. are you having regular tests to assess liver function?

you might want to contact some of the groups that do education/advocacy for people with spinal cord injury, such as the national spinal cord injury association, http://www.spinalcord.org, and the united spinal association, http://www.unitedspinal.org. altho much of their emphasis is on people who are wheelchair-bound and/or paralyzed, they also have info for people who are still ambulatory.

i'm glad to hear from you but very sorry you're so sick right now. you are such a generous contributor to this community. you probably aren't aware of this, but you really gave me inspiration and courage to start answering Qs here and do research on medical areas i was not initially familiar with.

here are some emotional-support vibes for you --

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

i send you many caring thoughts and hope that you'll be feeling better quickly.

i am so sorry that your son has had such problems. i can tell that you are frantic with worry.

i can't tell from your post if it is the air bubble (pneumocephalus, see PS1) that primarily concerns you or or if your Q relates to the continuing presence of the symptoms of hydrocephalus (PS2).

with respect to the air bubble, your son is receiving the treatment that has been found to be most effective -- supplemental oxygen. what i have read in a quickie search of some of the medical literature (PS3) is that, depending on the amount of supplemental oxygen he is getting, it may take from a couple of days to a week for the air bubble to be reabsorbed into his body. (of course, anything your son's dr says trumps anything i say.)

as for the hydrocephalus itself, this is a serious lifelong condition that needs close monitoring. it is customarily managed with a shunt (PS4) or a surgical procedure called an endoscopic third ventriculostomy (PS5).

there is also a hydrocephalus support group, which you can reach at hydrodb@earthlink.net (636/532-8228).

i send caring thoughts to both of you.

-- susie margaret

PS1 -- pneumocephalus means air or gas in the brain; the air or gas puts creates pressure in the brain cavity that can cause excruciating headaches, seizures, and nausea/vomiting. it is often a postsurgical complication of shunt implantation. sometimes a small pneumocephalus will gradually disappear on its own, but larger ones need attention.

PS2 -- hydrocephalus is a condition where there is too much spinal fluid in the brain; either the body produces too much for some reason, or the channel for the spinal fluid becomes damaged or blocked, forcing the fluid to collect in one of the chambers of the brain. this causes pressure that can precipitate headaches, seizures, vomiting, sleepiness, poor balance and coordination, developmental delays, and irritability. it has no cure.

PS3 -- please note that i am not a medical person; my conclusions in this post are my layperson's interpretation of info on various medical websites. for that reason, i welcome, solicit, and indeed beg for correction, amendment, or replacement of any inaccuracies in this response.

PS4 -- a shunt is an internal valve-regulated drainage tube for the excess spinal fluid; it allows the excess fluid to go from the brain to somewhere other than back into the spinal cord, usually the abdominal cavity.

PS5 -- in an endoscopic third ventriculostomy (EVT), a surgeon drills a tiny hole thru the bottom of a specific chamber in the brain where spinal fluid has accumulated, thus allowing the fluid to move freely again.View Thread

what good is gold, or silver too, if your heart's not good and true -- hank williams, sr.

i don't know about doritos that were 10 years old. however, food poisoning is usually characterized by nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramps, and fever. if the doritos and corn twists didn't look unusual, smell bad, or taste odd, my guess (see PS) is that they are not the cause of your symptoms.

these types of symptoms can appear as side effects of certain medications. have you recently begun taking any new meds? these symptoms can also signal some type of chemical poisoning (by ether, for instance). have you been using or exposed to any sort of industrial solvent recently?

if you continue to have these symptoms for more than another week or if they get worse, i think you should see a neurologist.

i hope you can find what the problem is.

-- susie margaret

PS -- please note that i am not a medical person; my conclusions in this post are my layperson's interpretation of info on various medical websites. for that reason, i welcome, solicit, and indeed beg for correction, amendment, or replacement of any inaccuracies in this response.View Thread

what good is gold, or silver too, if your heart's not good and true -- hank williams, sr.

i am so sorry about your daughter's brain damage. she sounds like a very persistent young woman, tho, and i'm sure it encourages her that you are so persistent also in looking for help for her. here are some suggestions that might be useful to both you and your daughter --

(1) see if you can find a clinical trial or a research study for your daughter's condition. if you know the technical term for her disorder, use that as a search term, but if even if you don't know the technical name, you can search using "neurology," "brain damage," or something similar. your daughter's neurologist may be able to give you the technical term to use. here are some sites to try --

if a clinical trial or research study is recruiting or already in process, get in contact with the drs/investigators who are running the trial/study and see if your daughter might be accepted as a participant. even if she is not eligible to participate, the drs/investigators may be able to give you updated info on what medicines or treatments might be helpful.

the same is true if the trial/study is already completed. the drs/investigators might also be able to refer you to someone who works specifically with patients who also have your daughter's condition.

(2) have your daughter sign herself up to be contacted if a clinical trial or research study is begun that investigates her medical condition. drs/investigators often use these "research match" lists to find participants with a particular medical condition. try these sites --

(3) is there a national association that does education or advocacy for people with your daughter's condition? they might have up-to-date medical information, lists of clinical trials or research participant registries specifically for brain injury patients, and links to local resources. here are some sites to try --

(4) it may be helpful for both you and your daughter to check out various on-line support groups for those interested in brain injury; often the individual experiences of others with brain injury or their families/friends can be just as informative and encouraging as medical resources are. try this site --

you've probably noticed that i haven't been around for some time. i was having problems with depression for a while and dropped below the radar, coincidentally around the time when webMD stopped having moderators. i am so glad to see that you are still active, because you've always been so helpful and give such accurate information to people.

i hope that you are doing as well as can be expected; as always, you have my complete sympathy. i have some new physical problems that are taking up a lot of my time right now, but i will try to look in on this exchange from time to time.

i do plan to check in now and again to see if there are any relatively simple inquiries i can respond to. i just don't have the emotional, intellectual, or physical energy that i used to have, and i've always been amazed at the amt you have been able to do when i know that you have terrible physical problems.

evidently we have no more moderators at webMD, and no more experts, either (tho there never was an expert on this board, anyway, except for you and red). i don't really understand some of the recent changes related to the webMD boards, but i guess they wanted to go in a different direction.

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